Vilnius – a city of St Casimir and Casimirs’s Fair

Nowadays Casimirs’s Fair is a joyful holiday of saying goodbye to winter and meeting the spring, which is organised in Vilnius at the first weekend of March.(1). The Fair dates back to the beginning of the 17th century: in 1521 Pope Leo X issued the Papal bull confirming canonisation of Prince Casimir (2). This was an especially significant event for the city of Vilnius and the whole of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, because prince Casimir has been the only saint from our country thus far. The canonisation ceremony was held in Vilnius Cathedral in 1604. The solemn holy procession transformed itself into an annual church festival of the city dwellers, with the fair becoming an inseparable part thereof. Every spring this holiday united craftsmen and the nobility, monks and students. It was at that time that the prototype of the today’s palm appeared – blossoms of the lilies were carried by the participants in the procession. Some details of the holiday have certainly changed; in 1901 the traditional place of the market was moved from Cathedral Square to Lukiškės Square (3). Gradually commerce became a more pronounced element of the event, especially in the 20th century when religious aspects of the holiday weakened. The ring-shaped rolls (4) and especially honey cakes “Casimir’s heart” (5) became a necessary culinary attribute. In the inter-war Vilnius, palms became a distinct element of the holiday (6). The Casimir’s Fair became popular again in the 1970s-1980s. Soviet intelligentsia, as well as students, arrived in Vilnius from all corners of the Soviet Union to experience the illusion of “western freedom”. During the Casimir’s Fair Vilnius also became the place of pilgrimage of hippies of the USSR. After the re-establishment of independence, Vilnius again became the city of St Casimir (7, 8). The geographical range of the Casimir’s Fair expanded – at the present time fairs are organised also in other cities of Lithuania. Street performances, theatrical processions, and folk artists can all find its place in the present-day space of the city of St Casimir. (8).